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La Russa Snubs Dickey For All-Star Start

Tony La Russa has always been noted for over thinking, and his reasoning for not starting the Mets’ R. A. Dickey probably falls into that category, too.

Word out of Kansas City is Matt Cain will go against Justin Verlander in tomorrow’s All-Star Game. All along the reports are an apprehension for using the knuckleballer with Buster Posey.

“Look, I want to start the game. Of course I do,” Dickey said Sunday. “I think any competitor would like to.”

La Russa’s thinking is faulty if he’s concerned about passed balls and wild pitches. They are potentially far more costly later in the game when your offense has less time to make up a run.

Cain and Posey are teammates, so that makes sense. If Dickey follows a power pitcher such as Cain to throw off the AL hitters, that also makes sense. But, if La Russa’s reasoning in fear, that makes no sense.

The official announcement is expected at a 1:30 p.m. ET news conference.

“The perfect game Cain pitched was fantastic – but apparently throwing back-to-back 1-hitters, having more wins, more strike outs, a lower ERA and WHIP, while pitching in a tougher division doesn’t seem to count for much. Not to mention, as R.A. and Matt Cain both said, it would be more beneficial to let Dickey start so he could have more time to practice with Posey (who shouldn’t be the starting catcher anyway). So don’t go giving me the ole’ “it’s better for the team” excuse. What a joke..smh.” taken from a commenter on espn ny blog – bob

Apparently the starting catcher of the all star game is not as good as the other guy who caught RA. Oh and the starting pitcher had a wild pitch. So what was the reason for not starting your best pitcher again?